Poll: GOP sours on Palin for 2012

A new CNN poll shows a sharp drop in support for a Palin presidential bid among Republicans

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FILE - In this Dec. 3, 2010 file photo, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin talks during a book signing in Columbia, S.C. This month's early under-the-radar campaigning by potential Republican challengers to President Barack Obama is a reminder of something too easily forgotten: Running for president is harder than it looks, and Obama ultimately will stand against a flesh-and-blood nominee certain to make mistakes along the way. (AP Photo/Virginia Postic, File)(Credit: AP)

A new CNN poll finds that support for a Sarah Palin presidential bid among Republicans has dropped from 67 percent in December 2008 to just 49 percent this month.

This is the question to which 49 percent of Republians answered “very likely” or “somewhat likely” when Palin was named:

I’m going to read you the names of a few people who might run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. For each one, please tell me whether you would be very likely, somewhat likely, not very likely, or not likely at all to support them if they decided to run for the Republican nomination in 2012.

Salon recently documented a growing chorus of doubts about Palin’s fitness to run for president among influential conservative pundits and even a few politicians. It’s not at all hard to imagine that criticism of Palin from the likes of Charles Krauthammer and Karl Rove on Fox can, over time, have an effect on poll numbers. So these two trends seem related.

One also has to wonder if Palin has been hurt by presenting herself to the public in the decidely unpresidential context of a reality show.

Justin Elliott is a reporter for ProPublica. You can follow him on Twitter @ElliottJustin

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